山东省某县农民参加新农合意愿及受益公平分析

通过调查农民参加新型农村合作医疗（新农合）意愿选择及受益程度,对影响参合因素及政府补助分配的公平性进行研究,认为：影响参合因素主要有家庭收入、家庭医疗支出、补偿比例等;从受益角度看,总补助的集中指数是负值,不同人群的受益趋于公平。从不同服务看,住院的公平程度好于门诊。     

中文阅读过程中的副中央凹预视效应

副中央凹预视效应指当读者正注视某个词(即位于中央凹的词n)时, 可以获得词n右侧词(即位于副中央凹词n+1或词n+2)的部分信息。在阅读过程中读者能否从副中央凹预视到信息, 会直接影响他们的阅读效率。因此, 探讨阅读过程中的副中央凹预视效应产生的条件、影响因素及机制, 成为阅读心理学需要解决的基本问题之一。本文系统总结了中外文阅读过程中副中央凹预视效应的研究进展, 包括副中央凹预视效应的研究范式, 中外文阅读过程中副中央凹预视的信息类型、不同类型信息预视加工的时间进程, 以及空间上获得预视信息的范围。最后提出中文阅读过程中副中央凹预视研究需要解决的几个关键问题。     

Impaired discriminative fear-conditioning resulting from elevated fear responding to learned safety cues among individuals with panic disorder

Classical fear-conditioning is central to many etiologic accounts of panic disorder (PD), but few lab-based conditioning studies in PD have been conducted. One conditioning perspective proposes associative-learning deficits characterized by deficient safety learning among PD patients. The current study of PD assesses acquisition and retention of discriminative aversive conditioning using a fear-potentiated startle paradigm. This paradigm was chosen for its specific capacity to independently assess safety- and danger learning in the service of characterizing putative anomalies in each type of learning among those with PD. Though no group difference in fear-potentiated startle was found at retention, acquisition results demonstrate impaired discriminative learning among PD patients as indexed by measures of conditioned startle-potentiation to learned safety and danger cues. Importantly, this discrimination deficit was driven by enhanced startle-potentiation to the learned safety cue rather than aberrant reactivity to the danger cue. Consistent with this finding, PD patients relative to healthy individuals reported higher expectancies of dangerous outcomes in the presence of the safety cue, but equal danger expectancies during exposure to the danger cue. Such results link PD to impaired discrimination learning, reflecting elevated fear responding to learned safety cues.     

Worries about Pritchard’s safety

I take issue with two claims that Duncan Pritchard makes in his recent book, Epistemic Luck. The first concerns his safety-based response to the lottery problem; the second his account of the relationship between safety and intellectual virtue.     

A soft-contact model for computing safety margins in human prehension

The soft human digit tip forms contact with grasped objects over a finite area and applies a moment about an axis normal to the area. These moments are important for ensuring stability during precision grasping. However, the contribution of these moments to grasp stability is rarely investigated in prehension studies. The more popular hard-contact model assumes that the digits exert a force vector but no free moment on the grasped object. Many sensorimotor studies use this model and show that humans estimate friction coefficients to scale the normal force to grasp objects stably, i.e. the smoother the surface, the tighter the grasp. The difference between the applied normal force and the minimal normal force needed to prevent slipping is called safety margin and this index is widely used as a measure of grasp planning. Here, we define and quantify safety margin using a more realistic contact model that allows digits to apply both forces and moments. Specifically, we adapt a soft-contact model from robotics and demonstrate that the safety margin thus computed is a more accurate and robust index of grasp planning than its hard-contact variant. Previously, we have used the soft-contact model to propose two indices of grasp planning that show how humans account for the shape and inertial properties of an object. A soft-contact based safety margin offers complementary insights by quantifying how humans may account for surface properties of the object and skin tissue during grasp planning and execution.     

Validating an older adult driving behaviour model with structural equation modelling and confirmatory factor analysis

The Multilevel Older Persons Transportation and Road Safety (MOTRS) model postulates a role for demographic, functional, and psychosocial factors in driving self-regulation. This study formally tested the constructs of the MOTRS model, and its ability to account for variation in older adult’s driving self-regulation. Four exogenous constructs dealing with sociodemographic and driving-related variables (driving space, dependency on other drivers, health, and driving performance) and three endogenous constructs of psychosocial appraisals (driving confidence, attitudes and beliefs towards driving) were used to predict driving self-regulation. A sample of 277 Australian drivers, aged 65 years or over, completed standardised questionnaires to assess these variables. Structural equation modelling was used to evaluate one of the model’s assumptions. Findings established that sociodemographic and driving-related factors influence older adults’ driving self-regulation by impacting psychosocial variables. A re-specified model accounted for 75% of the variance in self-reported driving self-regulation. When other variables were considered, attitude towards driving was the strongest single predictor of driving self-regulation. These findings provide an initial partial validation of the MOTRS model. The results indicate that psychosocial variables are important determinants of driving self-regulation by older adults. This model could guide future research into older adults’ driving self-regulation.     

The effects of safety knowledge and psychological factors on self-reported risky driving behaviors including group violations for e-bike riders in China

ObjectivesIt is unknown that how safety knowledge and psychological factors affect e-bike rider safety. Also, group violation behaviors, which are commonly observed in the field, have been rarely examined for e-bike riders in China. In this paper, the effects of safety knowledge and psychological factors on self-reported risky driving behaviors including group violations were examined.MethodsA questionnaire was developed to acquire information of e-bike riders in Guilin, Guangxi Province. Explanatory factor analysis was used to examine the reliability of the questionnaire and exclude redundant measurement items. Then, a Structure Equation Model was developed to examine the relationships among safety knowledge, safety attitude, risk perception and risky driving behaviors. After that, multiple regression models were fitted to examine the effect of safety knowledge on each type of risky driving behavior, as well as factors associated with group violations. At last, ANOVA tests were conducted to identify significant differences among e-bike rider groups in safety knowledge, safety attitude, and risk perception.ResultsSafety knowledge was found significantly associated with risky driving behaviors for e-bike riders in China, including aggressive driving, erroneous driving, and group violations. E-bike riders severely lack safety knowledge, especially that of traffic rules, including unmarried riders, under-educated riders, riders without driver’s license, younger riders, and riders with little riding experience. Group violations were largely found among e-bike riders, and to be associated with safety knowledge of traffic rules, risk-taking attitude, and riding experience of e-bike riders.ConclusionsThe findings could add some new safety implication and be beneficial for developing safety policies and interventions for e-bikes.     

Prospective writing: Randomized controlled trial of an intervention for facilitating growth after adversity

Little is known about how posttraumatic growth (PTG) can be fostered and controversy surrounds how it is best measured. We designed and tested an intervention, prospective writing, to facilitate PTG by encouraging people to explore new possibilities after adversity. Adults (N = 188) with recent adverse experiences were randomly assigned to do prospective writing, factual writing, or no writing weekly for one month. PTG was assessed with both retrospective and current-standing measures. Hierarchical linear modeling and response profile analysis were used to assess the intervention’s impact, and latent growth curve modeling was used to test mediation. Prospective writing participants showed the greatest gains in PTG as assessed by the current-standing measure, but did not reliably show greater retrospective PTG than controls. Although large effect sizes for the mediation paths suggested that engagement with new possibilities may be a plausible mechanism, this result fell short of statistical significance. Prospection-based interventions merit further investigation.     

Attentional orienting and awareness: evidence from a discrimination task

We used several cue–target SOAs (100, 500, 1000 ms) and three different degrees of cue predictability (Non-predictive-50%, Predictive-75%, Counter-predictive-25%), to investigate the role of awareness of cue–target predictability on cueing effects. A group of participants received instructions about the informative value of the cue, while another group did not receive such instructions. Participants were able to extract the predictive value of a spatially peripheral cue and use it to orient attention, whether or not specific instructions about the predictive value of the cue were given, and no matter their ability to correctly report it in a post-test questionnaire. In the non-predictive block, bad estimators who received no instructions showed regular cueing effects, while good estimators exhibited smaller and non-significant facilitatory effects at the short SOA and an absence of significant IOR at longer SOAs. However, for the instructions group, the pattern of results reversed.